NHL commissioner Gary Bettman walks onto the stage for a news conference before the NHL hockey All-Star game skills competition Saturday, Jan. 30, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn.
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Those were two of the hotter subjects in Bettman’s “state of the NHL address” in Nashville on Saturday before the NHL All-Star Game skills competition.
Gary Bettman will be staying on as NHL Commissioner for a little longer.
Bettman, 63, took over as NHL commissioner on February 1, 1993 when the league had 24 teams. The serious contenders to become expansion teams are Quebec City and Las Vegas.
“This is a very important decision with a long-term impact on the league”, he said. “We’re not ready to make a decision”.
Bettman said the 10-member executive committee, which is dealing with expansion, is not struggling with any issues that is delaying the process from moving forward and coming to a timely conclusion.
The topic of expansion was barely addressed at the NHL Board of Governors meeting Saturday morning, after it was discussed extensively in December. “I know people are getting exhausted of hearing me say that but I think being patient and not saying much is the best way to go”.
Martin Tremblay, spokesman for Montreal-based communications giant, declined comment on the process.
The Quebec Nordiques moved to Denver in 1995, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. “We’re focused on Quebec City and Las Vegas, so that’s not even on our radar screen”, he said.
“Don has brought stability and strength to the union, and that’s a good thing”, Bettman said. With this extension, he will have been in command of the National Hockey League for 30 years which would equal the same tenure of former NBA boss and mentor of Bettman, David Stern.
The 2017-18 season would be the earliest the league would expand, and Bettman and the owners aren’t feeling any pressure to make a decision.
“The clubs are well aware of it conceptually and nobody is overly concerned because I believe we’re going to be in the same universe”, he said. The current collective bargaining agreement with the NHLPA expires in 2022, the same year Bettman’s new contract ends. Both parties did have a discussion with the International Ice Hockey Federation two months ago, Bettman said, leaving questions related to the cost to transport and insure the players up to the IIHF and the International Olympic Committee.
Commissioner Bettman said the League will test cameras on the blue line during the All-Star Game with the intent of improving the speed and quality of the view the officials see on replays for goals scored on potential offside plays contested with a coach’s challenge.
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Bettman said the Canadian dollar’s plunge could affect next year’s salary cap, but not in a significant way.
